overtraining

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taso42_DELETED
taso42_DELETED Posts: 3,394 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Is there a good rule of thumb to determine how much is too much? My normal routine is strength training 3x/week and HIIT 3x/week. And 1 day of rest. However, I rarely honor my rest day, and end up doing some extra non-HIIT cardio that day (either a jog or a bike ride or both). I also tend to throw in extra cardio sessions here and there during the regular week.

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  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,121 Member
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    REST. That is all. I've read in fitness aticles that more than 400-500 cal burn is overkill/counterproductive.

    That said, I'm sure there are arguements both ways.

    Obsession is the real danger here. In all things, moderation.
  • froglegjack
    froglegjack Posts: 388 Member
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    If you get overtired. Have problems sleeping and are irritable those are signs of overtraining. Listen to your body !
  • jlewis2896
    jlewis2896 Posts: 763 Member
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    Your body knows how much is too much. If you feel good, great. If you're tired, moody, start gaining weight, constantly hungry, etc., then you need to honor that rest day!!
  • jkestens63
    jkestens63 Posts: 1,164 Member
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    I exercise 7 days a week. And I'm a fairly hard cored exerciser - usually 1200 calories a day. I exercise so much because I truly enjoy it (I think after years of super morbid obesity everytime I complete a work out I'm beyond thrilled) and it does allow me to eat a little more. However, I do listen to my body. When I start feeling really tired or sore, or I have to really push myself to get a workout done, I know its time to take a day off.
  • AGM94
    AGM94 Posts: 6
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    Do you own a HR monitor?

    I try and check my resting heart rate most mornings as one possible way of diagnosing overtraining is an elevated hr. I've found this to work quite well but the main thing is just listening to your body. I regularly exceed 1500 calories a day for 5-6 days a week but whenever i feel overly tired i take a rest day or 2 and make sure to get enough sleep.

    From looking at your schedule though it does look a little packed, in general if you were doing 3 strength training sessions a week i would expect DOMS to limit your ability to do the HIIT training 3 other times a week
  • traceywaugh
    traceywaugh Posts: 144
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    you need to have at least one day of rest to allow your muscles to repair but other than that listen to your body and watch for symptoms of overtraining
  • Agglaki
    Agglaki Posts: 105
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    I also train six days a week.

    My current routine is this (subject to change sooner rather than later)
    Mon - Legs
    Tues - Chest and Tris
    Wed - Boxing (punch bag)
    Thursday - Back and Bis
    Friday - Shoulders and abs
    Saturday - Boxing (sparring)

    Sunday rest!

    All days I do a minimum of 30 min cardio as well.

    I notice that by Friday I am feeling sore, but shoulders and abs is an easy workout compared to other days.
    And by Sunday I know I am tired and worn out as I sleep a lot of the day.

    You will know when you are tired and overtraining as your body will tell you. The thing to do is take note of it. The only thing I could possibly say about your routine is that HIIT is quite intense on the body and doing that three times a week might be too much you might be better off actually mixing your cardio up a bit more, by throwing in a slightly less intense longer workout.

    But this suggestion is made without actually knowing your full routine.

    I try to do one HIIT a week on the treadmill, bike or elliptical and also do 3min rounds with 1min rest style training during my Wednesday boxing sessions.
  • Schwiggity
    Schwiggity Posts: 1,449 Member
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    I have one day of rest where I'm pretty relaxed. Might go for a walk or something casual, but nothing where exercise is the main focus. There's nothing wrong with working out 7 days a week, but most people will eventually need a rest day.
  • dinos
    dinos Posts: 1,390 Member
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    If you monitor your workouts with a HRM, you can use Training Load software that scores the intensity of the workout, your fitness and fatigue levels etc. You can find this type of functionality in applications such as SportTracks Software (http://www.zonefivesoftware.com/sporttracks/forums/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=5467), or TrainingPeaks Software (http://support.trainingpeaks.com/personal-edition/training-stress-scores/performance-management-pod.aspx).

    I use these to approach my training in a 'scientific' way, however the bottom line is that you have to listen to your body.
  • xraychick77
    xraychick77 Posts: 1,775 Member
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    overtraining is really hard to do unless you are a professional athelete who's job is to workout.

    ps i LOVE archer
  • waterbabeAD
    waterbabeAD Posts: 73
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    Your body does need a rest day. Since I started getting back into exercise, I always have one rest day per week, exercising for at least 60 mins, 6 days per week

    I recently had 2 full time pro elite triathlete house guests and I was talking to them about this (amongst many toher things). They have a rest day each week - always. the reason is that in the course of training everyday, your body gets micro tears in the muscle tissue. One of the triathletes was also a qualified and former practicing sports physio. Only a day of rest can the body repair these tears.

    Essentially, you can never over train, only under recover....

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